Elton John's Rocket Pictures has set up the 3D animated Gnomeo & Juliet: Sherlock Gnomes, a sequel to the 2011 Disney hit that grossed $194 million worldwide. Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil, who wrote the original, are writing the sequel script. Elton John is currently composing new songs for the film. Rocket Pictures’ principals Steve Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish are producing, and John is exec producer. The plan is to begin production in the fall, and they are talking to directors. Gnomeo & Juliet director Kelly Asbury will act as a creative consultant on the sequel.

When gnomes start disappearing from the suburban gardens of England, Gnomeo, Juliet and friends enlist the help of Sherlock Gnomes, “the greatest ornamental detective,” to track the culprit. Unfortunately, Sherlock is neither as brilliant nor as insightful as his human counterpart, and as the crimes against gnomanity continue, the threat to their world becomes bigger than they ever imagined.

“Action detective stories need some gnomes to liven them up, I’m sure Arthur Conan Doyle would agree,” said Shaw. “It will be a fun, broad family film building on the popular foundation of the first. We believe the wide appeal of our world and characters combined with strong musical elements create a terrific franchise opportunity.”

Rocket Pictures, started by John and his partners to focus on family and music-themed projects, is developing an animated feature from the Michael Buckley novel series Nerds, about kids who run a spy network from their elementary school, with Buckley writing the screenplay; Asbury (who also directed Shrek 2) is writing and will helm an adaptation of Will Gallows and The Snake Bellied Troll; Rocket is also working on Rocketman, a biographical musical-fantasy film about the life of Elton John, written by Billy Elliot‘s Lee Hall.

BREAKING… The Kung Fu Panda director has come aboard Sherlock Gnomes, the 3D animated sequel to last year’s Disney-released Gnomeo & Juliet. Elton John‘s Rocket Pictures is producing again with the first movie’s co-writers Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil also back for the follow-up, which centers on the characters from the first movie enlisting the help of a famous gnome-detective in solving the sinister disappearance of gnomes from the suburban gardens of England. “John has the perfect sensibility for this movie, together with the vision to build on the first film to create a distinctive, fresh and action-packed adventure,” said Rocket CEO and producer Steve Hamilton Shaw. Stevenson is repped by CAA. Elton John is writing original music for the movie, which is now set to begin production early next year. Rocket Pictures, repped by UTA, also said today that it has hired former Walt Disney Animation production head Carolyn Soper to help oversee production on the pic, working alongside Hamilton Shaw as the company ramps up its animation ambitions. Rocket’s David Furnish and Elton John are also producing.

Four years after the $245.7M hit Rango, Johnny Depp is heading back to Paramount Animation for Sherlock Gnomes, a sequel to the Elton John-run Rocket Pictures feature toon hit Gnomeo And Juliet ($194M global B.O.). MGM is co-producing and Depp will star as the title character.

RelatedJohnny Depp Amasses Santa Barbara Modern Master HonorReturning stars James McAvoy as Gnomeo and Emily Blunt as Juliet are joining Depp in a script penned by Ben Zazove (Rex Libris, Captain Planet). In Sherlock Gnomes, a string of garden gnome disappearances occur in London, when Gnomeo and Juliet look to legendary detective Sherlock Gnomes to solve the case. Feature toon is directed by Kung Fu Panda director John Stevenson and the pic will be released on January 12, 2018, which is the MLK holiday weekend.

The producing team behind Sherock Gnomes includes Elton John, David Furnish (Gnomeo & Juliet), Steve Hamilton-Shaw (Gnomeo & Juliet), and Carolyn Soper, who was the Disney production executive on such titles as Tangled and Princess And The Frog.

Gnomeo And Juliet is an example of one of those animated films that was a little engine that could. The film was a passion project of John’s for 11 years and was greenlit by former studio chief Dick Cook under the Disney-owned Miramax. The film wasn’t included in the Miramax sale to Filmyard Holdings, and Disney sat on it but wouldn’t release it under its animation banner since the film was made by Toronto-based Starz Animation.

They finally released the film under their Touchstone label to solid B.O. results.